DOUBT

WALT DISNEY

RELEASED 6 February 2009

Winter in the Bronx and it’s 1964, with America still in mourning for JFK. Kindly, progressive priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying to modernise St. Nicholas school by introducing non-religious songs into the Christmas carol concert and bringing a more caring, understanding approach to the kids. Fiercely opposed to this is Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), a strict disiplinarian who reminds you of the one feared teacher I’m sure all of us had at school. When she shouts ‘BOY’, it brought memories of a teacher nicknamed ‘Dagger’ flooding back!

When young trainee Sister James (Amy Adams), a hopeful innocent, tells Sister Aloysius of a suspicious incident involving Father Flynn and the school’s first black student Donald Miller, who he has very much taken under his wing, Sister Aloysius immediately decides the Father is guilty of improper conduct and makes it her mission to hound him out of public life. Just for good measure, he has long (though clean) nails, which obviously marks him down as a ‘bad ‘un’ in the Sister’s eyes. It’s clear she resents the male side of the church as we see them drink alcohol, smoke, eat red meat, and tell rude jokes, while the Sisters drink milk, eat bland-looking stews, and eat in silence.

This is a superbly acted movie, with the main leads actually being overshadowed by the brief but important appearance of Donald’s mother (played by Viola Davis) who throws up all sorts of questions into the mix about what is right or what should be. Her performance would get award nominations if it wasn’t basically a cameo.

It’s also a brilliantly-written work, adpated and directed for the screen from his own play by John Patrick Shanley (who won an Oscar back in 1987 for ‘Moonstruck’, and won the Pulitzer Prize for ‘Doubt’). There are many fantastic lines (such as when Meryl Streep curtly replies to Hoffman about ‘where’s your compassion? No where you can get at it!) and there’s a strong sermon comparing spreading gossip to letting a pillows’ feathers blow away in the wind and how once they’re out there, you can’t get them back.

‘Doubt’ deals with questions of justice, race, intolerence, sexuality, and religion, and I was totally engrossed throughout for what is a strange kind of thoughtful thriller involving nuns and priests (no silly Da Vinci riddles guaranteed!) 

FOUR OUT OF FIVE